Wintersmith characters

Appears from the start

The young witch of the Chalk, now thirteen, sent up into the mountains to continue her training with a succession of senior witches. Competent, stubborn, and used to being the person others rely on, she has grown into the daily work of witchcraft: nursing, midwifery, settling disputes, and doing the jobs nobody else will. She is also at an age where she wants to be noticed, which is a dangerous thing to be when the world is full of old stories looking for someone to act in them.

Appears from the start

The Big Man of the Nac Mac Feegle, the small blue fighting men of the Chalk, who consider Tiffany their hag and follow her wherever she goes. Reckless, loud, and entirely loyal, he has lately been struggling with two frightening new responsibilities: being a husband to the kelda and learning to read.

Appears from the start

Rob Anybody's brother, cheerfully unburdened by thought, and the Feegle most likely to say the wrong thing at length. He means extremely well.

First appears in chapter 2

The kelda of the Chalk's Feegle mound and Rob Anybody's wife, small, sharp, and the real authority among the clan. She sees further than the warriors do and has become uneasy about how much of Tiffany's attention the Feegle still hold, and about what she senses coming.

First appears in chapter 2

The witch Tiffany is currently apprenticed to: one hundred and thirteen years old, blind and deaf, and dressed entirely in the fearsome black the villagers expect. She borrows the eyes and ears of animals to see and hear, holds court over local disputes with terrifying accuracy, and is respected and feared for miles. She has been a witch longer than anyone can remember and has strong opinions about what a witch owes the people around her.

First appears in chapter 2

The elemental spirit of winter, who arrives each year to take the world from the Summer Lady in an ancient exchange danced out by the mountain villages. He is weather rather than a person: frost, ice, blizzard, and the shape of snowflakes. Until now he has never had cause to wonder what it might be like to be anything else.

First appears in chapter 2

The elemental spirit of summer, the Wintersmith's opposite and partner in the dance that turns the year. Where she walks, things grow.

Also known as Esme Weatherwax

First appears in chapter 3

The most formidable witch in the mountains, austere, unsentimental, and almost impossible to impress. She keeps a distant watch on Tiffany's progress, intervenes rarely and only where it will teach something, and is more interested in whether a young witch can get herself out of trouble than in getting her out of it.

First appears in chapter 3

A wandering witch-finder who searches schools and villages for girls with the talent, and who first found Tiffany. Bookish and brisk, she keeps track of her charges from a distance and worries about them more than she admits.

Also known as Gytha Ogg

First appears in chapter 5

A senior Lancre witch, cheerful, disreputable, and enormously experienced, with a large family and an extremely relaxed attitude to propriety. She is the witch people go to about births, marriages, and matters of the heart, and she understands the old stories about gods and elementals better than almost anyone.

First appears in chapter 5

A young witch of Tiffany's age who leads the local circle of trainees by force of personality. Confident, imposing, and fluent in the vocabulary of magic, she is a great believer in the correct trappings and looks down on plain practical witchcraft.

First appears in chapter 5

A shy, kind young witch of the same circle who specializes in pigs and is far tougher than she appears. She is Tiffany's steadiest friend among the trainees.

First appears in chapter 5

The Baron's son from the Chalk, away at school, who writes to Tiffany and reads a great deal about heroes and quests. Awkward, sheltered, and pushed about by grasping relatives, he badly wants to be the sort of person the stories are about.

First appears in chapter 6

A cheese made by Tiffany that came out livelier than intended. Blue, hungry, and capable of surprising speed, it attaches itself to the Nac Mac Feegle, who consider it an excellent addition to the clan.

First appears in chapter 8

A minor goddess of things that stick in drawers, worshipped by rattling a stuck drawer and swearing. Recently promoted and enjoying it, she is easy to summon and free with advice.